Survivors of ‘Nord-Ost’ and relatives of slain hostages are unnecessary burdens on the government

In late November the federal parliament passed a law on it third reading, which would allocate to he firm Link, Inc. monetary support in the amount of 13, 252,000 rubles (~$500 thousand). As the explanatory note for the law states, it is “to maintain the artistic team as well as provide social support for employees of the ‘Nord-Ost’ project injured as a result of the terrorist act.”

Labor minister A. Pochinok, who introduced the law, did not explain why he requested exactly this sum and not a ruble less. He did state, however, that this gesture on the part of the government is in no way an admission of guilt with respect to the victims.

“I dream of repeating what my brother did.”Their sons, brothers, and sisters held all of Russia in fear for several days.Why are the relatives of the terrorists who seized hostages in Moscow ready to do it again?

A regular meeting of the Board of Military Experts took place on December 17th of this year in the House of the Russian press on Bersenevskaya Embankment in Moscow. Discussed at the meeting were the preliminary results of the year in the political life of Russia.

The ‘Nord-Ost’ tragedy gradually fades away into insignificance, and now it seems as if it did not really happen at all in Moscow, and Lord knows how long ago it all was. Repairs to the Moscow bearing plant’s theatrical center are in full swing, and the show goes on. Everything is A-OK!

Meanwhile, many mysteries about the tragedy still remain out of the public eye. One of these mysteries is the main reason as to why there were so many deaths: 129 people.

During the first days after the tragedy, the media discussed the topic in every way possible. They fingered various types of gases, and sprinkled terms about, but even back then many experts drew attention to the fact that someone was specifically leading the public away from the true causes of peoples’ deaths. Every now and then another exotic theory would pop up in the pro-Kremlin media, or among the ‘loyalist’ journalists. One such theory was that the hostages died of “acute depletion and as a result of metabolic imbalances.” Another was that people died from “an allergic reaction caused by the mixing of the gas with ammonia vapors in the supersaturated atmosphere of the auditorium,” while yet another theory was that they simply “had not worked out the right dosage.” If readers and viewers were to look closely at these theories, and examine them, they might start believing that there were only external factors that led to the deaths of 129 hostages, or in other words: fate. It is simply how everything worked out, s--- happens and all. We sure wished it could have turned out better, but that is the way things go. Sorry. But look how many we did save!

There are participants in these events, however, that do not share the position of the semiofficial media.

We offer for your consideration the story of two former hostages from ‘Nord-Ost’, and their further adventures, as written by a close relative.Members of the Citizen’s Cooperative human rights organization sent the following material to the editorial offices of MXG Chronicles.